Whangarei house market remains slow | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Whangarei residential property values and sales  continue to lag behind the rest of New Zealand, according to the latest national figures.

Whangarei real estate agent Michael Springfield says the latest Quotable Value residential price movement report is more indication house prices are still flattening.

The market in Whangarei was particularly slow for higher priced properties, coastal properties and investment properties, while lower bracket houses were still selling, Mr Springford said.

Whangarei is the only provincial city with values still below what they were at the same time last year, according to the QV report. But at -1.8 per cent, that drop-off has slowed compared with the -3.9 per cent fall of 2008.

Much of the drop-off has been because "investors are sitting on their hands," Mr Springford said.

The latest QV figures show that Whangarei's average sale price in February $337,048. Mr Springford said he thought that was "a bit on the high side", propped up by the sale of a few high-priced properties.

Fears about job security played a big role in holding down sales, with fewer people taking a chance on changing houses or moving to the provinces. A few years ago 35 per cent of local sales were to people relocating to the area for lifestyle or work reasons, Mr Springford said.

"I think the volume of sales might get a bit better in the next year but people are still hurting, retail is hurting. We're still in a recession."

In Far North the drop off was markedly higher, at -4.2 per cent from February 2009 to 2010, compared with -1.9 per cent the year before. The average sale price was $338,297.

Kaipara figures also indicate a greater drop-off, but the report adds that the figures may not be statistically accurate due to the low volume of sales. The average sale price in Kaipara was $310,298.

Despite signs the market is flattening again, nationally property values are still above the same time last year, according to QV. The year on year change increased to 5.5 percent, but that is still 3.9 per cent below the 2007 market peak.
 Values in the Auckland region have continued to increase in recent months and are now 8.7 per cent up on the same time last year. The Wellington region is 6.7 per cent up, and Christchurch 6.9 per cent.

Other main centres have been stable in recent months, but still remain above last year - by 4.3 per cent in Hamilton, 1.0 percent in Tauranga, and 6.2 per cent in Dunedin.

 Values in the provincial centres have been more variable, although values are still above the same time last year in almost all areas.